Sinema, McSally both oppose Trump on pulling troops from Middle East

Arizona's Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally on Thursday helped advance a bipartisan rebuke of President Donald Trump's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

Sinema, a Democrat, and McSally, a Republican, both voted in favor of ending debate on the measure, which came up about a month after Trump announced that he planned to pull thousands of troops.

The Senate's 68-23 vote ensures that the amendment, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will be included in a larger Middle East security bill.

U.S. intelligence officials testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday that much of what Trump has said about the Middle East has been incorrect, including his claims that Iran is planning nuclear warfare and that ISIS has been defeated.

Trump fired back on Wednesday with a series of tweets claiming that negotiations in Syria are going well and he wants to work with the Syrian people toward ending the war.

When I became President, ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous progress made, especially over last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago. Negotiating are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting..

On Thursday, Trump doubled-down on his disagreement with the intelligence leaders, which included Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, and CIA Director Gina Haspel.

"I think I'm right, but time will prove that. Time will prove me right, probably," Trump told reporters. "I think Iran is a threat. I think it's a very big threat. And I think I did a great thing when I terminated the ridiculous Iran nuclear deal. It was a horrible, one-sided deal that was $150 billion, plus $1.8 billion in cash, and lots of other bad things."

McConnell, R-Ky., often sides with Trump, but his amendment seemed to reflect the view of the Intelligence officials, warning that withdrawing from the Middle East could set back gains the military has made and threaten national security.

McConnell tweeted Thursday that he wanted his amendment to give senators the opportunity to go on the record with their feelings about the Middle East policy.

“ISIS and al Qaeda have yet to be defeated and American national security interests require continued commitment to our missions there,” his tweet said.

The Senate is expected to vote on the Middle East security bill next week.